Tag: SSA Retirement Planner

Social Security was never intended to provide your complete retirement income. Financial experts say you need 70-80 percent of your pre-retirement income for a comfortable retirement. Since Social Security replaces only about 40 percent of pre-retirement income for the average worker, having pensions, savings, and investments are important. To illustrate this, the average, individual, Social… Read More

Q: Can my stepdaughter receive from my record when I retire? A: Perhaps. Your biological, adopted or dependent stepchildren may also qualify on your record when you receive Social Security benefits. In general, the child must be unmarried, and either younger than age 18, age 18 – 19 and still in high school, or over age… Read More

Q: Is age 65 still important for Social Security retirement? A: While age 65 is important as the starting age for Medicare, it has no special meaning for Social Security retirement anymore. Until the Social Security Amendments of 1983, retirement benefits were not reduced for age if you waited until age 65 before starting them.… Read More

Q: I reach age 66 in August. A Social Security representative contacted me about my online retirement application. She said my wife could collect half of my amount when she reaches age 66 later this year and that she could later collect her own retirement at age 70. Is this correct? A: As a general… Read More

Q: Is there a limit to the amount of Social Security benefits payable to a couple? A: This question is received so often that I routinely discuss it when teaching retirement seminars. There is no marriage penalty, limit or other reduction when each member of a couple receives Social Security retirement based on their individual work records. … Read More